Activity from doctornemo
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Books that shaped America
From A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible to Our Bodies, Ourselves. In 2012 the United States Library of Congress held an exhibition on what it saw as the most influential books in American history.
(via)
One hundred years ago on the Eastern Front, doom in a forgotten battle
"She was outclassed in everything except bravery" In April 1915 the Russian empire was on the verge of entering Hungary, having taken the great fortress of Przemyśl. But in May a German-led surprise offensive cracked Russian lines, shattering entire armies and causing a 300-mile retreat in what was probably "the greatest victory of World War I by the Central Powers". Nearly one million prisoners were taken. Moscow lost the ruins of Przemyśl and all of Poland. For the next two years Russia will struggle but ultimately lose, tsardom falling to revolutions and the rise of the Soviet state.
Graeber on Gawker, on extractive democracy
"This is a profound transformation, and one we barely talk about. " Anarchist anthropologist David Graeber sees the FBI Ferguson report as a window into how American democracy is changing.
Cats, jihad, satire!
A new genre has emerged, the mock jihadi video. This involves short clips with ISIS-ish sound tracks layered on for shocking and/or comic effect.
The Gallipoli campaign began 100 years ago today.
"The new dawn lights the eastern sky; Night shades are lifted from the sea": British and French ships entered the Dardanelles and opened their attack on Turkish forces, one hundred years ago today. This bold naval assault, planned by Winston Churchill, will falter, leading to the brutal Gallipoli campaign, an Allied defeat and Turkish triumph.
"Enhance 15 to 23."
"By zooming in on high-resolution face photographs, we were able to recover images of unseen bystanders from reflections in the subjects' eyes." Science catches up with Blade Runner.
Looking ahead to 2015 in civil liberties
"some of these prognostications may seem a wee bit hyperbolic, a bit paranoid, maybe even a little nutty" What will American civil liberties look like in 2015? If things take a turn for the worse, they might look a little familiar.
Slate also explored this terrain today, but not at such length.
“Those buildings were taken down not long after I took that picture.”
"Demolished: the end of Chicago's Public Housing" A look back at Chicago's 20th-century public housing high-rises, and how they were taken down. Also an interesting form of web presentation.
(SLNPR)
No single-payer healthcare for Vermont
Governor Shumlin announced he would not pursue single-payer healthcare for his state. Reasons include high costs, high complexity, and Shumlin barely eking out reelection.
Against detoxing
"it’s the marketing equivalent of drawing go-faster stripes on your car." The Guardian slams the detoxing craze.
(SLG)
Is Loon flying?
Google's balloon-based internet seems to be working. After some hiccups, one bad demo, and lots of redesign, Google's Project Loon (previously) is bringing some internet to some people in the developing world.
Fluffier socks play a crucial role. (SLS)
Fluffier socks play a crucial role. (SLS)
When Martian war machines hit the Western Front
This may be the best War of the Worlds movie ever made, and it's barely three minutes long. And it's not exactly doing HG Wells per se. It's a trailer for or clip from The Great Martian War 1913-17, which concerns "the catastrophic events and unimaginable horrors of 1913-17, when Humankind was pitted against a savage Alien invasion."
The video seems to use a mix of reenactors, period film, and f/x.
(SLVimeo)
Death of a podcaster
R.I.P., the Vincent Price of podcasts Lawrence Santoro (old but useful site), writer, director, and actor, passed this July. But he might be best known for his work as a podcaster, most notably through his Tales to Terrify.
The shots heard round the world.
One hundred years ago today, an age came to an end and a terrible war was spawned. On June 28, 1914, 20-year-old Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Duchess of Hohenberg Sophie, in the city of Sarajevo. This triggered a diplomatic crisis which metastasized into the first World War.
The better robots of our nature
War! What was it good for? Quite a lot, argues historian and archaeologist Ian Morris. Over thousands of years humans used war to build our societies, then turned it against itself. With luck our newly acquired habits and forthcoming robots will keep the world from returning to older levels of bloodshed.
An extraordinary atmosphere of sullen, baffled evil, as the year opens.
The State of the World 2014 Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky have started this year's WELL-based review.
More now die by suicide than car wreck
The American suicide rate has spiked upwards, according to the CDC. That increase is especially noticeable among baby boomers. Is the reason the availability of prescription drugs, or challenging family circumstances? The article's comments generally cite the economy.
(SLNYT)
"[L]uxury journals are supposed to be the epitome of quality"
Prestige scientific journals are bad for science, and we should avoid them. "Just as Wall Street needs to break the hold of bonus culture, so science must break the tyranny of the luxury journals." So argues Nobel laureate Randy Schekman, urging scholars to shift their work to open source journals.
From the Journal of Modern Illogical Studies
The new Sokal: Serbian academics hoax a scholarly journal into accepting their gag paper.
(Scribd copy of paper)
Bruce Sterling on Manning and the blast shack.
"This scene is straight outta Nikolai Gogol." Chairman Bruce reflects on Manning, surveillance, the history of computing, the character of cypherpunks, the Russian and American states, and more.
What the hell is quinoa, they asked.
Two searches meant a surprise visit. Local police visited a Long Island family allegedly because of their recent Google searches.
First discussions from the Atlantic, the Guardian, and Hacker News.
First discussions from the Atlantic, the Guardian, and Hacker News.
Doodle the alien home
Google Doodles Roswell A minigame for your Monday morning alien exile pleasure.
37 years of Breakout
Not a Doodle, but an Easter egg Google has a fun way to celebrate Atari Breakout's 37th anniversary.
"The cryptanalyst has two cards in her hand, so there's nothing to do"
A card game to teach computer security. [d0x3d!] is the creation of some Naval Postgraduate School computer scientists, designed to help players learn digital security concepts. Playtested with middle school students.
The untouchables
Wall Street's leaders have utterly escaped jail. "There have been no arrests of senior Wall Street executives." Frontline examines why the United States federal government didn't go after the financial titans.
(via)
There is no higher education bubble
It's the splashing, not the popping. What if American student debt is just too profitable and secure to admit any systemic reform? An interesting and gloomy argument against the higher education bubble theory.
Google doodles Halloween
A Halloween doodle from Google. Be sure to click around, and save the kitty for last.
Overshooting faster
This month we've gone too far, we humans on Earth. "[H]umanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. We are now operating in overdraft."
Not so smart as everyone and their cat?
"It is this failure of political will both in the EU and US which is starting to make the contemporary economic scene resemble that of the 1930s. " The Eurozone and the US are heading into a bad economic decade, argues John Lanchester (wiki).
Bill Gates on the future of energy
Bill Gates on energy Nuclear is needed, home solar is cute, the rich are useful, and big batteries are very hard to do, among other things.
Blackboard being bought
Major educational technology company sold: Blackboard, the leading course management system firm, agreed to be purchased. Providence Equity is spending $45 a share, for a total of around $1.64 billion US (pdf).
Is Apple bypassing the Web?
Is Apple bypassing the Web? Maybe so, and the inventor of the Web's fears are one step closer to being realized.
What would you ask Bill McKibben?
What interview questions should I ask Bill McKibben? I'm interviewing him for our community blog, and would like to do this well.
"We have no idea what to do next."
"All of us in the environment movement, in other words – whether we propose accomodation, radical downsizing or collapse – are lost." Is human civilization hitting the sustainability wall? If so, the environmental movement seems blocked about what to do about it, broods George Monbiot. Nobody likes a "steady state economy", and the worse things get, the harder that option is to achieve. Plus green contradictions might vitiate effective action: "the same worldview tells us that we must reduce emissions, defend our landscapes and resist both the state and big business. The four objectives are at odds."
Not a typical 70s revival
Brazil won't extradite an Italian writer convicted for political murders in the 1970s, so a Venetian official wants his books out of libraries. Not only Cesare Battisti's works, but also those written by Italians who supported him through petitions.
The Wu Ming group is on the case (English translation), fearing this will worsen and spread to the rest of Italy.
The Wu Ming group is on the case (English translation), fearing this will worsen and spread to the rest of Italy.